


In Your Care

by 26stars



Series: AU August 2020 [18]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: BabySitter's Club AU, Babysitter's Club - Freeform, Best Friends, Bobbi and Elena have walkthroughs, Clueless Bi!Daisy, Daisy is Kristy, Jemma is Mary Anne, Marvel Fluff Bingo 2020, Middle School AU, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Multi, Teen Angst, man this was an unfortunate trip down memory lane..., so I guess that makes Fitz Logan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-22
Updated: 2020-08-22
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:14:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26047114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/26stars/pseuds/26stars
Summary: Daisy and Jemma have been friends since they were little, but now eighth grade is bringing some tumultuous changes. First, there was Daisy's mom remarrying. Now, all of a sudden Jemma's got a boyfriend, and Daisy isn't prepared for her reaction to it. Still, with a little help from her mom, she finds what her role in this gang of three is supposed to be.Babysitter's Club AU for the AU August Favorite Book prompt. Also fills my Marvel Fluff Bingo square for 'babysitter au'
Relationships: Jemma Simmons & Skye | Daisy Johnson, Jiaying & Skye | Daisy Johnson, Leo Fitz & Skye | Daisy Johnson, Leo Fitz/Jemma Simmons
Series: AU August 2020 [18]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1860802
Comments: 10
Kudos: 27
Collections: AOS AU August 2020, Marvel Fluff Bingo, Women of the MCU





	In Your Care

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Florchis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Florchis/gifts).



> So Flor, I couldn't quite make myself go for a full-on poly relationship between eighth-graders, but hopefully, the vibe is still there. 
> 
> My favorite book series is probably still Harry Potter, and Every Day by David Levithan is a close second, but I already did an HP AU this month and Every Day's plot is waaaaay to complicated to attempt to emulate in a little oneshot, so Baby-Sitters Club was next on the list. I remember being voracious for these books as an elementary/middle schooler, and I owned several dozen and got the rest from the library. Now it has a Netflix series, and my heart was so happy watching it last month!
> 
> For those who aren't familiar with the books, Watson is a stepdad in them, not someone you're supposed to remember from AoS.

It wasn’t easy being thirteen.

Even at her age, Daisy knew it was cliché for a teenager to say that no one understood her, but sometimes it was so, so real— _no one_ understood her. The best thing about eighth grade was knowing that it was the last year she’d be in middle school. On the horizon was high school, then a driver’s license, then freedom…

Sure, her oldest brother had a car now, and her step-dad was certainly not hurting for cash, so Daisy’s life outside of school didn’t have half the worries it used to. Still, with high school sports ending well after the last bell at middle school rang, Daisy was still forced to walk herself home from school, but at least that wasn’t so bad, seeing as she could do that with Jemma, her next-door neighbor and best friend since kindergarten.

Jemma was listening amicably to Daisy’s monologue as she ranted about her last-period teacher and the essay he’d assigned her for not sitting still for the entire sweltering fifty minutes of class during the hottest time of day. Jemma had always been a great listener, considering how quiet she was. Daisy easily gabbed the whole way home, and when it came time for them to part ways on the sidewalk in front of their side-by-side houses, Jemma turned to Daisy, seeming hesitant for some reason.

“I’ve got something to tell you too, but I think you’ll probably have questions, so do you want to come over for a bit?”

Confused but intrigued, Daisy immediately followed Jemma into her empty house—her father wouldn’t be home until almost dinner time. Jemma waited until they were in the kitchen with an open package of crackers on the table between them, however, before she said anything else.

“Fitz asked me to be his girlfriend.”

Daisy could only stare, open-mouthed, at her friend for a long moment, and once she was able to speak, her words were hardly eloquent.

“What? Why?”

Jemma’s face scrunched. “What is that supposed to mean, ‘why’?”

“I just,” Daisy said, trying to backpedal, “I mean, weren’t you guys just…friends? You pass notes. He talks to you in the halls. But you haven’t even seen each other outside the school?”

Jemma looked affronted. “We do—he reads to kids at the library on weekends, and I see him there, since it’s one of the few places Dad lets me go alone. We’ve been…talking more.”

Daisy looked away, still trying to fit her head around the situation.

“You really just…you didn’t even ask me—tell me?”

“I suppose I could make my own decision, yeah?” Jemma said, looking hurt even as she pushed back against Daisy's words. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know you considered yourself my mother rather than my best friend…”

“I have to go,” Daisy lied, spinning from the counter and snatching up her bag. “Mom wanted me to walk Louie…”

She didn’t hear Jemma call after her, but she did hear her start to cry before the front door closed.

~

Partly to justify herself and partly to blow off steam, Daisy did actually walk Louie, her family’s collie, around the neighborhood after dropping her school bag at home. The dog, of course, seemed to love the outing, but Daisy was no less restless by the time she was back at her house. She scowled through her dinner, scowled through her homework (including that stupid essay), scowled through the subsequent hour she spent messing around on the old laptop her mom had finally let her start using this year.

Sometime around ten that night, when she was almost ready for bed, Daisy saw a tell-tale flash on the curtain over her window. She knew it was Jemma trying to signal her with her flashlight from her bedroom window that faced Daisy’s, their solution to the issue of her dad keeping Jemma's cell phone in his room at night.

Daisy ignored the signal for a few minutes, waiting to see how badly Jemma wanted to talk to her, and when her friend gave up after only a minute or two, she sighed to herself, pushing away the laptop and covering her face with her pillow.

 _She should have told me,_ Daisy thought forcefully. _I’m her best friend…how could she not have told me…_

 _She did tell you,_ an annoying voice of reason interrupted. _That was her telling you. You’ve known for months that she has a crush on him. You’re just mad now because it’s official that she’s got someone who she likes just as much as you._

Angry at being lectured by her own subconscious, Daisy groaned into the pillow, a sound she didn’t mean to be heard from the hall.

“Daisy?” her mother’s voice drifted through the door, followed by a light tap. “Are you all right?”

“Fine…” Daisy groaned, lifting the pillow a little to answer.

“Can I come in for a minute?” her mother asked, and Daisy took a deep breath and actively reminded herself that she wasn’t mad at her mom.

“Sure.”

Her mother looked exhausted when she came in and perched on the edge of Daisy’s bed—being a doctor did that to a person—but she smiled gently as she patted Daisy’s outstretched leg.

“You groaning at homework or something else? Was it the same thing that had you looking so grumpy at dinner tonight?”

Daisy sighed, pressing the pillow back over her face. “If I tell you something about Jemma,” she said, her speech muffled, “will you promise not to tell her dad? I don’t think he knows yet.”

Her mom was quiet for a moment, looking concerned. “That would really depend on what it is. If she needs help…”

“No, no, it’s nothing like that,” Daisy said quickly, removing the pillow and sitting up to look her mother in the eye. “She’s not in trouble or anything…she’s just…she’s got a boyfriend.”

Jiaying’s surprise was visible.

“Really? Since when?”

Daisy sighed. “I don’t know, actually. She told me today…I didn’t ask her the whole story. I don’t know if it happened at school…”

“What do you mean, you didn’t ask for the whole story?” her mother interrupted. “I would think you’d want to hear everything.”

Daisy looked away. “I…I don’t know. I’m kind of mad about it. She didn’t ask me…”

“Ask you what you thought of him, or ask you for permission?”

At the sound of Jemma’s words being repeated in a different voice, Daisy scowled again. “I thought we were best friends…” she groaned, throwing herself back onto her bed. “What does she need a boyfriend for? Now she’s only going to want to hang out with him…”

“Are you afraid that she’s going to forget you and you’ll lose her as a friend? Or are you sad because it makes you feel like your friendship wasn't enough for her?”

Daisy was silent, staring at the ceiling as she felt tears creeping in for the first time since this all began.

“You know," her mother went on, giving Daisy a moment, "you have plenty of people in your life who love you, but part of loving people is giving them freedom. It wouldn’t be kind or loving to Jemma if you demanded all her time, attention, or affection, just like it wouldn’t be loving if I didn’t let you have any friends growing up so that I could be sure you always loved me most, even though I’m your mom and that’s really how it should be.” Her mom tickled her knee to make sure Daisy knew she was kidding. “You had a hard time getting used to your step-dad, maybe for some of the same reasons, but it seems like you’ve come around to the fact that me loving Watson doesn’t mean I love you and your brothers any less. Do you think you could manage it with Jemma, too?”

Daisy knew her mother was right, which was slightly infuriating, so she grabbed her pillow to pull it back over her face.

“But…why _Fitz_ …”

“Do you not like him?” her mother asked, and Daisy sighed. She didn’t actually know anything about Fitz, really, except that he and Jemma were tied for the highest GPA in school and that he was on the robotics team that won state last year.

“He’s a big nerd,” she offered.

She could hear her mom smiling. “Well, you’re always calling Jemma a nerd too, but it’s usually with affection. Sounds to me like they’re perfect for each other.”

Daisy cringed behind the pillow.

“Goodnight, Mom,” she groaned, and her mother tickled her knee again.

“Do I not even get a kiss with my dismissal?”

Trying to act put upon, Daisy sat up to kiss her mom’s cheek and hug her briefly.

“You know, Daisy,” Jiaying said with her arms still around her, “I have always loved how protective you are of the people you care about—it’s one of the things that makes you such a good sister, and a really good babysitter. Maybe you could channel that into Jemma’s relationship too—if you really love her as much as I think you do, you’ll make sure any boy who dates her treats her well. Maybe this Fitz could use a visit from the town’s walking earthquake.”

“I’m not an earthquake!” Daisy protested, fixating on the one thing in her mom’s statement that she could disagree with.

Jiaying only smiled. “You _are_ a force of nature, baby, and any friend would be so lucky to have you on their side.”

~

The next day at the end of morning classes, Daisy was waiting at her locker for Jemma, like she usually did. They had talked sparingly on the way to school that morning, and though Daisy had apologized for her reaction the day before, Jemma had still seemed hesitant to share anything more about her new relationship. She had, however, agreed to bring him to lunch to meet Daisy, more or less for the first time. When she caught sight of the two of them weaving their way through the halls, Daisy was a little relieved to see that the two of them weren’t holding hands, just walking a little closer than they used to, their elbows barely brushing.

Also, Jemma looked…so happy. Like, happier than Daisy had ever seen her.

_Ouch._

“Hey,” Fitz said once he was close enough, meeting Daisy’s eyes briefly. He seemed a little nervous, but not exactly shy.

“Fitz, this is Daisy. Daisy, this is Fitz,” Jemma offered, visibly more nervous.

Daisy had known Fitz, his name at least, for nearly as long as she’d known Jemma—he’d gone to their elementary school, after all—so the introduction certainly didn't help the awkwardness.

“I heard it’s chicken sandwiches today,” Daisy announced instead, turning to lead the way to the cafeteria.

The lunch line was already long and the tables filling up by the time they made it down to the cafetorium. Jemma had brought her lunch—Daisy was counting on that—so she went to get them a table while Daisy and Fitz stood in line for food.

“So uh, Jemma told me that yesterday—” he began haltingly.

“Why do you like Jemma?” Daisy cut him off. They didn’t have much time to talk in private…well, private from Jemma anyway.

Fitz looked startled, but he recovered quickly.

“Why? Because…she’s amazing. She’s smart and she’s sweet and…”

“And she’s been through a lot,” Daisy said with a warning flash of her eyes. “She doesn’t need any more heartbreak in her life. So you’d better not just be using her to make yourself look cool by having a girlfriend.”

Fitz looked horrified. “No! No way!” he stammered rather vehemently. “I’ve had a crush on her since we were like, seven. I’m not…I would never hurt her.”

Those words should have felt comforting to Daisy, but she just glared harder, noticing for the first time what a nice blue Fitz’s eyes were.

“Either way, if you break her heart, I will break your face. Are we clear?”

Fitz nodded mutely, looking a little afraid, and Daisy turned away to collect food onto her tray, sliding through the lunch line with him behind her, neither of them saying anything else.

His shock seemed to have worn off just enough by the time they got to the table where Jemma was that he was able to smile and sit down and act natural. Daisy sat across from them and tried her best to be pleasant, though she wished Fitz would quit shooting her nervous looks.

Lunch passed uneventfully enough, and Daisy’s walk home with Jemma after school felt at least a little more natural than the one that morning.

“So…he seems nice.”

It was an awkward first attempt at talking about Jemma’s boyfriend, but it was the best Daisy could do for now.

“He is, isn’t he?” Jemma agreed cautiously. She wasn’t facing Daisy, keeping her eyes down on the sidewalk.

“How did he ask you?” Daisy tried again. “When? What did he say?”

The light slowly grew in Jemma. “Well, we were working on our chemistry homework together at the library last Saturday…”

By the time they got home, Jemma seemed mostly like her old self, and they both went to their own houses for a little while before heading across the street a bit later to congregate at Elena’s house for the Baby-sitter’s Club meeting. Bobbi was there already, and Elena was still in the process of finishing a painting at her art desk, but Daisy went straight to her director’s chair and put on her visor.

“Everyone—before the meeting begins, Jemma has an announcement.”

The other two girls turned to look expectantly at Jemma, who immediately blushed, though she was smiling shyly.

“Well…I have a boyfriend now.”

Their friends reacted accordingly, much better than Daisy did, and this time, Daisy was happy for Jemma. Her friends’ joy was infectious, and she played along in what she hoped was a natural way. Jemma was obviously so happy, so what was the problem?

Maybe Daisy didn’t get it, but she didn’t have to.

It wasn’t like she was dating Fitz, right?

**Author's Note:**

> I have vague memories of my clueless!bi self going through this as a high schooler, and I'm sorry to admit that I didn't handle it very well. Letting Daisy have a loving voice of reason in her life was my attempt and revising my story. :(


End file.
